Obama McCain Technology & Knowledge Gap

The Central Penn Business Journal "Gadget Cube", posted a story today about the -stark- difference in the two candidates' understanding and use of consumer technology.

Rationally, the two candidate come out of two different generations and represent their respective generations with commonality. That is not to say that those in their 70's, like Senator John McCain, aren't online or keeping pace by using other consumer technologies. However, generally speaking - & with relatively no evidence older people do not adopt trends with the rate that younger people do.

This is a certain truism, if need be I suppose I could find documentation that supported my claims, but for now I'll just say its a truism. The shock factor that McCain doesn't use the Internet has caused many people scratch their heads in disbelief.

This in part is exmained in the scholarship of knowledge gap, a theory that information is distributed throughout societies in a predictable and potentially unfair manner. Essentially, the well-to-do enjoy the first fruits of information, being privy to sophisticated, technical, and potentially leverage giving information.

Some in the field of communication have asked questions about the Internet, in respect to the Knowledge Gap Theory because of its obvious ties to bringing information to the masses. Resulting in the phrase and theory known as the digital devide. Combined, these theories could be used to argue that the Internet is an enabler and that it flattens the heirarcal structure of societies.

Thomas Friedman is a good example of a prominent public figure, thought leader that espouses such claims, however Friedman would likely also suggest that the flattening of societies is causally related to the spread of capitalism to areas like the mid-east.

vote Obama tomorrow ya'll

McCain Obama & the 2008 Election

Only 14 days until Americans cast their vote for President. 

McCain Fights to Keep Crucial Blue State in Play

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By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JEFF ZELENY

Published: October 21, 2008

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — People are scratching their heads: Why is Senator John McCain here?

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Senator Barack Obama has a double-digit lead in recent Pennsylvania polls. Senator John Kerry beat President Bush here in 2004. The previous three Democratic presidential candidates won, too. And this year there are 1.2 million more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state.

But in these frantic last weeks of the 2008 campaign, Mr. McCain has lavished time and money on this now deep-blue state — he made three stops here on Tuesday — as if his political life depended on it. And, from his campaign’s point of view, it does.

...find more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/us/politics/22pennsylvania.html?hp

Bill Moyers & Barack Obama's Impending Administration

In 2003, Bill Moyer said the rich had declared class war and were winning. According to the post Moyer submitted and published through the PBS website the rich were buying, "...the laws and loopholes they want from Congress, and from the White House, they buy executive protection of their privileges."

This identification of the way things were in Washington, and on Wall St are interesting in light of the current economic crisis. One might conclude that not only did the rich declare class war, but they ensured its future by pushing the envelope on the housing miss management.

The economic crisis is inherently linked with the credit markets, the credit markets are inherently linked to the lack of regulations in the housing markets. In spring of 2008 my wife and I listened dumbfounded as NPR explained the crazy state of the housing situation through interviews with people who had actually been involved in selling the no-check credit lending that appears to be at the root of the whole debacle.

A man who had sipped from $100-$300 bottles of bubbly admitted that "when setting-up the credit deals, we didn't care if they would be paid for, we knew we were going to sell them to long-term lenders. And they wouldn't be a bother of ours." I was appalled at the system that had so greedily created situations that would come to effect others so callously.

Here now in the closing months of 2008 we know now that credit has tightened, and that the folks in Washington have essentially socialized the U.S. banking system. It is interesting (along with infuriating) that the party that describes itself as a protection against socialization has been at the helm. Or is it?

Joe the Plumber Talks with Senator Barack Obama about Taxes

Here upon popular demand Joe the plumber. The man from Ohio that made the list of talking points the candidates tossed arrows over during the third and final debate of the 2008 Presidential Election.